Two recent studies, the WND/Wenzel Poll and the CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) assessment have found the following about what Muslims in the US believe and are thinking:

nearly half say parodies of Muhammad should be prosecuted criminally and offenders given punishments up to the death penalty

68% planned to vote for Obama, 7% for Romney, 25% were undecided

40 percent of Muslims in America believe they should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution but by Shariah standards.

Nearly 55 percent of the American Muslim voters say the U.S. is on the right track, and another 13 percent are uncertain.

One in eight respondents said they think those Americans who criticize or parody Islam should face the death penalty

Four in 10 said Muslims in America should be judged by Islamic law, Shariah.

In the CAIR poll, 66 percent said they are closer to the Democratic Party, while affiliation with the GOP was about 9 percent.

While 39 percent of Muslims said they believe existing U.S. courts should consult Shariah law when adjudicating cases involving Muslims, a plurality of 45 percent said they do not agree with this idea. Asked if the U.S. should establish separate courts based solely on Shariah law to adjudicate cases involving Muslim, 21 percent said it should. Two-thirds of respondents – 66 percent – said that separate courts are not necessary to adjudicate Muslims

One in five say Muslim men should be allowed to follow their religion in America and have more than one wife, and 58 percent said criticism of their religion or of Muhammad should not be allowed under the Constitution.

While 43 percent said they disagreed with the idea of Christians evangelizing Muslims, another 27 percent said they were undecided. Only 19 percent said they “strongly agree” with the idea that Americans have a right to invite Muslims to consider another faith.

Nearly one in three said Israel either has no right to exist or they were uncertain whether it does.

For those that are still upset after the election… here’s proof that maybe it just ain’t so bad here.
(That’s not saying that we’ve got a lot to work on… but let’s put it in perspective. If you lived in Tanzania, there are people who want your head… literally.)
It all started with a little boy peeing on a copy of the Koran. Seems his muslim friend was bragging that if someone was to urinate on the Koran that the person would turn into a snake, dog, or rat. Like any boy up for a challenge, the boy gave it a whiz.
Here’s part of what ensued:
The mob burned down five churches, including the Seven Day Church, the Anglican Church and the Assemblies of God Church, Christians said Other property belonging to Christians in the area was also destroyed including a car belonging to the Anglican Church pastor, according to ICC investigators.“As the riots continued, the Evangelical Assemblies of God Church in Tanzania was pulled down. In the following days, unrest in the Muslim community continued, leading to the destruction of more properties across the country and the lives of Christian leaders being threatened,” Stark said in a statement obtained by Worthy News.The violence also spread to Zanzibar, where on October 18, a mob of Muslim protestors carrying clubs, swords and machetes invaded two churches shouting “We want the head of Bishop Shayo” as they tried to enter his Roman Catholic church, Christians claimed.When they failed to break into the church, the mob moved on to the Anglican church of Reverend. Emmanuel Masoud where the crowd broke windows and were seen hacking at the doors while chanting: “We need the head of Masoud!” and We want the heads of all the church pastors in Zanzibar!”Pastor Lucian Mgaywa of the Church of God in Zanzibar, said in a statement that, “These chants caused a lot of panic and some pastors, fearing for their lives, fled the island of Zanzibar to the mainland of Tanzania,” though the government later “intervened and provided security.”
How’s that to give you some perspective this morning?
Todd
// read more here…

As this news report from PBS shows, Claremont Lincoln University, a graduate school in California, is the first in the United States to bring together Christians, Jews and Muslims in the same classrooms to educate the future leaders of churches, synagogues and mosques.
Claremont Lincoln is actually the creation of a much older institution, United Methodist-affiliated Claremont School of Theology, founded in 1885. It partnered with Southern California’s Academy of Jewish Religion and the Islamic Center of Southern California to form this new school. Students attending this school can get master’s degrees in divinity, rabbinic studies and Muslim counseling.
You can watch the report here.
hmmmm… thoughts?
Todd

Wow, and you thought WE had worship wars…
Bilal Philips was once a guitar god. Now he is trying to convince Muslims that God doesn’t want them listening to guitars.
A Saudi-trained Canadian, Mr. Philips is among a small group of lecturers who preach against most forms of music — a controversial prohibition that surfaced in Manitoba recently, where a dozen Muslim families want to pull their children from music class.
“A heart filled with music will not have room for God’s words,” he writes in his bookContemporary Issues, which also defends child marriages, wife beating, polygamy and killing apostates while calling homosexuality “evil and dangerous.”
While Mr. Philips argues that Islam does not prohibit all music, he says it only allows adult male singers and “folk songs with acceptable content sung by males or females under the age of puberty accompanied by a hand drum.”
“Wind and stringed instruments have been banned because of their captivating power,” he continues. “Their notes and chords evoke strong emotional attachments. For many, music becomes a source of solace and hope instead of God. When they are down, music brings them up temporarily, like a drug. The Koran, the words of God filled with guidance, should play that role.”
via Ex-guitarist now preaches against music.